3 Italia, the Italian mobile operator controlled by CK Hutchison, is now offering its over 10 million subscribers the opportunity to pay for purchases in Google Play as well as Windows Phone Store with Direct Carrier Billing.
Both integrations allow customers to use their mobile phone - as opposed to a credit card - as their preferred payment method to pay for games, music, videos and apps.
3 Italia has awarded the contract to Dusseldorf based Direct Carrier Billing specialist net mobile AG (net-m). The assignment took place as part of the Group "3" framework contract with the international company CK Hutchison in the course of which customers of "3" in Austria, Hong Kong, Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom can already use the new payment method in Google Play.
Sebastian Böhm, Senior Vice President and Executive Director responsible for Payment Solutions at net mobile AG adds: “With 3 out of 4 devices currently on sale by 3 Italia being either Android™ or Windows Phone based smartphones, both direct carrier billing App Store integrations facilitate digital content purchases for the large majority of 3 Italia customers.”
Recent studies document the strong interest in mobile App Stores especially in Italy stating that 1 out of 3 Italian mobile surfers have already purchased an app on their smartphone and that 1 in 2 would rather use carrier billing as a mobile payment system instead of a credit card.
His sentiments are echoed by a delighted Alberto Silva, Marketing & Strategy Director from 3 Italia. “Direct carrier billing as a convenient and safe way to purchase digital goods in Google Play and Windows Phone Store is of high appeal to our customers. The partnership with net-m helped us to realize both integrations in parallel and within a short period of time.”
net mobile AG is working in close collaboration with Google, Microsoft and other Over-the-Top players holding a leadership position for mobile payment services globally. net-m’s payment infrastructure makes it easy to connect different payment interfaces and guarantees stringent compliance with various regulatory and technical requirements when in operation.
As a result of its innovative payment architecture for mobile network operators around the world, the Dusseldorf specialist for mobile payment serves approximately 220 million users who can pay for purchased digital goods easily and safely via their mobile phone bill with the one-click Direct Carrier Billing payment method.